But the leaked draft text of the environmental chapter of the new agreement is "very weak" on this issue according to campaigners.

"We've been calling for a ban on shark finning, which should be in this chapter," said Ilana Solomon from the Sierra Club.

"All we got in the text was a suggestion that countries should come up with fish management plans that may include, as appropriate, measures to address shark finning."

The Office of the US Trade Representative said that the negotiations were still ongoing, and they would be pushing hard for strong environmental measures, including a ban on shark finning.

"A prohibition on shark-finning is one among the many trailblazing proposals that the United States has contributed to the TPP," said a spokesman.

"Despite resistance, we are continuing to push for the strongest possible outcome that is fully supported by comprehensive environmental enforcement."

Toothless agreement

In 2007, President George W Bush reached an agreement with Congress that any future free trade agreements would include a list of environmental treaties that all the signatories would agree to uphold.

Partners in the new deal

The twelve countries that are negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership are Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico, and the US. Eventually, every Pacific Rim nation may be included.

They account for more than a quarter of the global trade in fish and wood products.

But the proposed new deal simply acknowledges that countries have made commitments under agreements like Cites. It does not insist that the commitments be honoured.

"If the environment chapter is finalised as written in this leaked document, President Obama's environmental trade record would be worse than George W Bush's," said Michael Brune, also with the Sierra Club.

"This draft chapter falls flat on every single one of our issues - oceans, fish, wildlife, and forest protections - and in fact, rolls back on the progress made in past free trade pacts."

The US negotiators say they are pushing hard for strong environmental protection in the deal. But since the nations they are negotiating with are huge exporters of natural resources including timber and fish, environmentalists are concerned that free trade will mean a free for all in endangered but valuable species.

"This peek behind the curtain reveals the absence of an ambitious 21st Century trade agreement promised by negotiating countries," said Carter Roberts from WWF.

"The lack of fully-enforceable environmental safeguards means negotiators are allowing a unique opportunity to protect wildlife and support legal sustainable trade of renewable resources to slip through their fingers."